Monday, August 31, 2015

As many of you TransGriot readers are aware of, we had a Harris County sheriff's deputy named Darren Goforth murdered as he pumped gas in his police cruiser Friday night. Shannon Miles, the suspect in the killing was captured Saturday, charged with capital murder, and arraigned in court this morning

But what has pissed me and many folks in H-town off was our appointed Republican sheriff Ron Hickman using his Saturday press conference about the Goforth killing to attack Black Lives Matter.

The motive for the killing has not even been established by detectives investigating the murder of Deputy Goforth, but Hickman was quick to blame the Black Lives Matter movement and suggest Shannon Miles did so in retaliation for unpunished death by po-po killings of African-Americans around the country..

Hickman claimed the "dangerous rhetoric" against law enforcement has "gotten out of control," and went another step too far . "Cops' lives matter, too," Hickman said, "So why don't we drop the qualifier and say lives matter."

Because as far as you and your fellow white conservatives are concerned Sheriff Hickman, white lives are the only ones that matter, which is what you demonstrated when you selected an all male predominately white command staff mere weeks into taking over for former Sheriff Adrian Garcia.(D).

It's why we Black folks have to remind your asses constantly about our humanity. It wouldn't be necessary to quantify that Black Lives Matter if your
fellow police officers around the country didn't show so much contempt
for those Black citizen lives of all ages and genders they are supposed to protect and serve.

Sheriff Hickman, since you`re decrying inflammatory rhetoric, how about you start in your own vanillacentric law enforcement house? How about you calling on your brothers in blue to chill with the racist rhetoric they spew every time they mount over the top defenses of those predominately white `bad apple` police officers that get away with killing civilians that far too often share my ethnic heritage?

And how about taking the step of ending the practice of being Officer Friendly in white areas of town but Officer Oppressor in mine and other non-white neighborhoods? Black Lives Matter is not anti-police as far too many white GOP
voting law enforcement people and FOX Noise has tried to paint them.
They are anti police abuse and want accountability and transparency in
police policies, practices and punishment for rogue officers.

That's a problem that has existed well before the formation of Black Lives Matter. This negativity between Black people and the police didn't just pop up
since Ferguson, it has historic roots that predate it, and you need to
get out of your vanillacentric privileged bubble along with DA Devon
Anderson and recognize that.

So Sheriff Hickman, how about you recognize the fact that Black Lives Matter didn't create the problem that white dominated police forces have created.for over a century and demonstrating the leadership you so far haven't done so to help solve it?

Labor Day is the traditional start for Houston civic campaigns, but this 2015 election cycle is not any normal electoral cycle. The politics have been as hot as the August weather, and it revolves around the Houston Equal Rights Ordinance.

Since I`m getting e-mails and phone calls from around the country and my friends around the world concerning whats happening in our Houston human rights fight to keep the HERO, it`s time to start doing regular update posts from now until November 3.

We H-town trans peeps and our allies can breathe one sigh of relief in that Dave Wilson`s odious attempts to enshrine anti-trans bigotry into the Houston City Charter has failed.and will not be on the ballot.

Hallelujah!

However, no thanks to partisan Texas (Republican), Supreme Court rulings, the HERO is on the ballot as Proposition 1, and the final ballot language now sets it up as a simple YES or NO vote.

"Are you in favor of the Houston Equal Rights Ordinance, Ord. No.
2014-530, which prohibits discrimination in city employment and city
services, city contracts, public accommodations, private employment, and
housing based on an individual's sex, race, color, ethnicity, national
origin, age, familial status, marital status, military status, religion,
disability, sexual orientation, genetic information, gender identity,
or pregnancy?

For those of you in the Houston city limits, voting YES on Proposition 1 keeps the HERO in effect, voting NO kills it and as the head of the Houston Sports Authority warned, potentially puts next year's Final Four, the 2017 Super Bowl and hosting future sports events, corporate relocations and convention business in jeopardy.

Question for you folks irrationally opposing the HERO because of two of the 15 categories it protects. Is your hatred of LGBT Houstonians so strong you'd risk our city's economic future?

The Houston Unites coalition to keep the ordinance has already been busy along with HOUEquality and other groups with volunteer trainings, phone banks, and canvassing over the last two weekends to get the truth out about the Houston Equal Rights Ordinance protecting ALL Houstonians

And right on cue, the anti- HERO haters started running ads bringing up the discredited bathroom scaremongering on several radio stations including the conservative leaning talker.

Speaking of radio, on Majic102.1 yesterday, HERO supporter Fran Watson jousted with HERO Ron Jackson and shut down the one trick pony lies on Sunday Morning Live. Majic102.1 is one of the most listened to radio stations in the Houston African-American community, and this conversation is significant because during the fight to pass HERO last year, Majic102.1 was guilty of anti-HERO fearmongering..

On August 20 HERO supporter Ashton Woods went on FOX26's The Isiah Factor to confront anti-HERO Councilman Michael Kubosh, who declared last year at a Steve Riggle hate rally that 'God put me on City Council to oppose the HERO'

The 135th edition of the US Open kicks off today and runs through September 13, and there's something new for this event. As part of a $500 million renovation, a roof is being constructed that will cover Arthur Ashe Stadium that is scheduled for completion in time for next year's open.

That's the future along with a planned roof for Louis Armstrong Stadium and a 8000 seat Grandstand Court, so now let's talk about the present and the historic opportunity that presents itself for her.

Serena walks onto the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center grounds in NYC as not only the world's number one ranked player and number one seed in this tournament, but a favorite to take the women's title. Big Sis Venus is seeded 23rd.

If she does so, it will not only be her fourth straight US Open title, but her fifth straight Grand Slam and as every tennis fan on the planet knows, her first calendar year Grand Slam. And oh yeah, she would tie Steffi Graf with 22 career Grand Slam tournament titles.

But the road to tennis history starts with this first round match against Vitalia Diatchenko while Venus faces off against Puerto Rico's Monica Puig.

Saturday, August 29, 2015

Ever since the conservative moment lost their culture war to stop marriage equality from happening in Texas and across this nation, they have been increasingly shifting their attacks to demonizing the trans community. That increased anti-trans rhetoric and attempts in several states including Texas to criminalize trans peoples lives has had deleterious effects on trans women of color and especially the African-American trans community.

While the 2011 Injustice At Every Turn survey revealed the extent of the problems that trans America faces, that inaugural survey also pointed out Black Trans World is catching hell. In addition to 26% unemployment, 41% of the respondents reporting experiencing homelessness, 21% reporting discrimination in health care, 20% reporting being HIV+ and 34% of the respondents reporting a household income of less than $10,000.

Another area we're catching hell at is the unacceptable level of anti-trans murders disproportionately affecting Black trans women Since Islan Nettles was murdered in August 2013, we have had 25 trans women killed (and counting) with the overwhelming majority of them being Black trans women.

I believe the increased anti-trans rhetoric may be a factor in the unprecedented numbers of trans women of color being murdered in 2015. As of this writing 17 trans women have been killed across the United States in which 12 have been Black, and another Black trans woman is in critical condition in a Philadelphia hospital after being savagely attacked on August 20.

Sadly two of the lives lost, Ty Underwood of North Tyler and Shade Schuler of Dallas are Texans. The other pattern that is alarming me is that many of the trans women who have lost their lives this year have been under 40. While we haven't lost any trans Houstonians yet, I fear it's just a matter of time with this current battle over HERO all the hateful anti-trans rhetoric that has been uttered by our opponents focused on their despicable strategy of bearing false witness against and demonizing the trans community.

What is infuriating to me as a proud African-American native Houstonian who fought hard with a group of my fellow Houstonians to pass the HERO was seeing a cadre of African-American ministers joining with out of town conservative gaybaiters to spread debunked anti-trans lies to hoodwink and bamboozle people into voting against their own human rights.

Contrary to these modern day Pharisees loud and wrong opinions, trans African Americans have been part of the of the kente cloth fabric of Black life for several decades.

When will our lives matter not only to my people, but to our fellow human beings as well who assert they are our allies? One of the things allies can do to show support for us is helping a Fran Watson created We The People White House petition get to 100K signatures by its September 10 deadline. It calls for a federal investigation into the causes of anti-transgender violence but unfortunately has only 4,663 signatures at the time of this writing.

It's past time for our Black lives to not only matter to people inside and outside our community, but have our allies fight just as hard to make our human rights a reality as Marsha, Sylvia and countless other trans women have done for yours.

Today is the tenth anniversary of the devastating 2005 landfall of Hurricane Katrina in the New Orleans area. It would turn out to be the fifth deadliest storm to ever hit the United States and caused the reported deaths of 1,833 people It also resulted in once the levees failed in 80% of New Orleans being flooded and major damage to the roof of the Superdome.

It also had far reaching effects post landfall in forcing the largest movement of African-Americans since The Great Migration of the early 20th century and affecting the politics of the states of Texas, Louisiana and Georgia.

Because of Katrina evacuees, the population of Houston grew by 35,000 people, and enough stayed to where we ended up expanding City Council after the 2010 census. Georgia picked up a congressional seat and Texas picked up four congressional seats.

Conversely, New Orleans lost half its pre-storm population and the state of Louisiana lost 4.8% of its pre-Katrina population and a congressional seat. Louisiana also went from being a swing state to a reliably Republican voting one.

The badly botched government response by the Bush Administration was probably a factor in the Democrats getting control of the US House and the Senate in the 2006 midterms the next year.

New Orleans and the area has bounced back ten years later, Many of the people who left the city in the wake of Katrina have returned. The Superdome reopened, and the levees and highways damaged by the storm have been rebuilt. President Obama visited the city earlier this week, spoke with residents and Mayor Mitch Landrieu and gave this speech.

There will also be commemorative events across the area today as people remember the folks that were lost in that devastating storm.

Friday, August 28, 2015

The Great Blue Bell Famine of 2015 is about to end in the Houston area!

After the Alabama production plant was cleared to resume making the Best Ice Cream In The Country, it is making four flavors, homemade vanilla, Dutch chocolate, cookies and cream and The Great Divide (chocolate and homemade vanilla combined) until they can get back up to full production.

It will start hitting Houston store shelves on August 31, but after I get reacquainted with one half gallon of the returning flavors, will have to wait until the diet stuff hits the grocer's freezers.

Honorable mention number one to Donald Trump for being a racist azzhole.and getting us a step closer to that permanent political allegiance switch of Latinos to the Democratic Party happening by kicking Jorge Ramos out of an Iowa press conference. He also let another sexist comment fly at Megyn Kelly among his other WTFery on the GOP campaign trail this week.

Keep it up Donald. Your Latino community poll numbers are probably lower than Yolanda Saldivar's now.

Honorable mention number two is Megyn Kelly, for putting her pumps in her conservafool mouth and demanding that Dr Cornel West explain why #BlackLivesMatter hasn't in her words discussed lack-on black violence, and he schooled her azz.

Honorable mention number three is the now suspended ODU Sigma Nu chapter for hanging some offensive signs at their frat house over the weekend. Semester hasn't even stared and they have already earned an 'F' in treating women with dignity and respect.

Honorable mention number four is SD state rep Roger Hunt, (R) who is proposing genital inspections of transgender athletes because he's pissed off about the South Dakota High School Activities Association’s recent adoption of a trans equality policy.

Figures it would be a GOP legislative pervert proposing this latest attack on trans kids

Honorable mention number five is Michael Brown, who is still trying to spin a decade later the 'heck of a job' he did as head of FEMA in the wake of Hurricane Katrina.

Dude, stop trying to spin you way out of the abysmal job you did. History and the videotape don't lie.

Honorable mention number six is the FOX Noise kneegrow fembot Harris Faulkner, who parted her lips to say that parents need to keep their daughters in the kitchen to prevent fraternity rapes.

I woke up this morning thinking about the Houston Equal Rights Ordinance (HERO) and was wondering if gender identity is protected as a class, why isn't age identity or race identity protected as well. If a person was was 50 but identified themself as 21 and put that on her job app, shouldn't she be protected too from discrimination? Or what about a college kid who got a scholarship to a public school for being Asian but was really Hispanic, shouldn't he be protected too? What are your thoughts on age and race identity? ‪#‎mondaymorningthoughts‬

In the cased of discrimination reported to the City of Houston from May 28. 2014 until January 15, 2015, 54% of the complaints were based on race. 17% were gender, 15% age, 4% for disability and national origin,, and 2% veteran's status.

Where did sexual orientation and gender ID complaints rank? 4% of the complaints the OIG's office received cited that as a factor.

But let's get back to what I really wanted to gripe about in terms of elements of the so call Black community leadership denying the humanity of Black trans Houstonians

But first, need to do a little Trans 101 and explain the concept of gender identity to you, The short version is it's a person's inner sense of being male or female and how they project and express that to the world. If your gender identity happens to line up neatly with the body you are walking Planet Earth on, and that makes you cisgender. Mine didn't, and that makes me transgender.

Gender identity is not, Edward, that jacked up convoluted crap you regurgitated on Monday.

I'm beyond sick and tired along with Black trans Houstonians of Black cis people reciting a long ago debunked right wing talking point. If you want to know what it's like to walk in my pumps or my Black trans brother's shoes, then ASK us.

Bottom line is for you to stop lying about our lives, and stop denying our humanity. You can't spell Black lives matter without the 'T', and I and Black trans people around the country are not going to let you forget it.

Was honored to participate in a vigil at Hermann Park honoring the lives of the 17 trans women we have lost in 2015. The vigil was organized by Ashton Woods and in addition to myself being one of the speakers, Dee Dee Watters and Brenda Langer also said a few words along with Woods to close out the event that started at 6 PM and was covered by one local news station.

You can't spell #BlackLivesMatter without the 'T", and my short speech was geared toward reminding people about that simple fact. I also reminded people that those who wish to deny our human rights, like our HERO hatin' opponents, are denying our very humanity.

I also called out the Houston media for lying about transpeople and peddling that debunked bathroom lie and expressed my fears that the anti-trans negativity being sowed by the faith based oppressors may manifest itself into anti-trans violence aimed at Houston trans people

I also reminded people that we are still trying to get a WH petition calling for a federal investigation of the anti-trans violence leading to our murders to the 100K mark. It is as of this writing well short of the 100K signatures it needs by September 9, and this is a short term way to show support for the trans communities of color..

We closed it out by saying the names of the 17 trans women murdered before going back to our lives and hoping that our allies in attendance do their part to help squash anti-trans rhetoric and disinformation in their influence circles. .

Wednesday, August 26, 2015

Guest Post by Vanessa Victoria. This was originally on her Facebook page, and it needed to be shared and signal boosted.

Maybe if…

Maybe if every man who has ever hired a trans escort, if every boy who has ever beat off to trans porn, if the millions who fetishize our bodies, who press us against hotel windows, who lay with us in our beds, if the men who adore me and my sisters, but only behind closed doors, would STAND THE FUCK UP AND SPEAK OUT…maybe 17 Transgender Women, wouldn't have gotten murdered in 2015.

Maybe if all of you who read this, our allies and friends and colleagues and family, would call out when others make jokes at our expense, even when we’re not around, if you’d tell advertisers and producers and journalists and writers and comics that you’re not okay with them making trans women nothing but the punchline of jokes or tragic tossaways, that you know us, that we’re not disposable….maybe groups of people would stop feeling so free to harass me and my sisters, maybe crowds wouldn’t just laugh when a man spits at me, or just watch when two young men chase me down the street yelling “shemale”…maybe if you ALL stood up and said enough, maybe a young woman just being herself wouldn’t be beat to death in the streets of the supposedly best place on earth to just be yourself.

Maybe if all the gay men who act as if equality means marriage, if all the white feminists who only serve those that look like them, if all the queers who drop “TWOC” like a shibboleth but don’t know or talk to or walk beside any actual trans women of color…maybe if all of you saw what was happening here and how your actions allow it, how every moment of silence, of waiting for people of color to start the conversation about race …maybe these women could have enjoyed a few more years of being beautiful among us.

It happened because our men won’t admit they love us, because our friends aren’t speaking out against the thousand little dehumanizing actions of others, because our own “LGBT” community isn’t comfortable talking about race and class.

When a White House petition posted on January 3 in honor of the departed Leelah Alcorn called for the passage of Leelah's Law to ban all conversion therapy aimed at TBLG Americans, it easily garnered its over 100,000 signatures, and got a WH response from Valerie Jarrett

Now we have a Fran Watson created White House petition posted on August 10 calling for the federal government to investigate the anti-trans violence that leads to the unacceptable slaughter of trans women of color.

And how close are we to hitting that 100,000 signature threshold that we need to reach by September 10? As of this writing, it has only 4735 signatures, well short of the number needed.

Ii this signature rate doesn't ramp up soon, we are probably NOT going to hit that 100,000 signature target required by September 10 to get an official White House response on this .

And that's irritating and depressing to the trans communities of color reeling from the off the charts murders and anti-trans rhetoric being aimed at us. I have no doubts if the racial composition of the trans murder victims was switched, and it was overwhelmingly white trans women under 30 being eviscerated, this would be 'State of Emergency' news and we would have already hit that signature target.

But since its predominately Black and Latina trans women, note it's now August 25 and we haven't even gotten to 50,000 signatures, much less 10,000.This disappointing response is sending us in Trans POC World and our allies the unmistakable impression that All Trans Lives Don't Matter, and that the lives of the 17 murdered trans women of color we've lost in 2015 don't matter as much as one non-POC teen that committed suicide.

The differing signature rates between the WH Leelah's Law petition and the current one aimed at trying to get action on a trans issue that overwhelmingly affects trans women of color is striking and a problematic look.

So come on trans community and allies. How about you showing as much love for murdered non-white trans women as you did for Leelah Alcorn earlier this year? Black Lives Matter, how about you encouraging people to sign this WH petition? Where you at NAACP? Congressional Black Caucus?

Sign it and share it...Talk this petition up and also get people to understand why this is important to get 100K signatures for it so we can hit and exceed the signature target before that September 10 deadline.

Last night some old Louisville human rights business I'd been working on since 2007 and had to unhappily leave undone when I moved in 2010 was finally completed!

By a nearly unanimous 6-1 vote, the Jefferson County Public School Board in Louisville voted to expand the JCPS anti-harassment and non discrimination policies to includes added gender identity and expression to the district's non discrimination and anti-bullying policies.

And the wonderful Bluegrass State news news had me doing the happy dance deep in the heart of Southeast Texas.

It was a process that Mike Slaton and I along with a team of people had been fighting for back in 2007, and I was bitterly disappointed when the gender identity and expression language was cut in favor of adding sexual orientation only

JCPS is Kentucky's largest school district, with 101,000+ students, 172 schools, and 6,400+ teachers, With this near unanimous vote, JCPS becomes only the second school district in the state to add gender identity to its non-discrimination and bullying and harassment policies.

The Fayette County Public School Board in Lexington approved a similar policy in July 2012.

As Metro Louisville Human Relations Commissioner Dawn Wilson said in a statement on her Facebook page," Tonight, the ghost of 2007 was finally laid to rest. No outside opposition. Room supportive. As the education chair of the Louisville Human Relations Commission I applaud the JCPS board for passing 6-1 gender ID and expression to the school policy!

The chair of GLSEN Bluegrass was also pleased with what transpired at the Van Hoose Education Center last night.“We are pleased to see JCPS pass this policy and join Fayette County as the only two school districts in the state with fully inclusive policies that protect students regardless of sexual orientation and gender identity,” said Zoey Peach, chair of GLSEN Bluegrass. “With the knowledge that they are protected from bullying and discrimination, these policies will ensure a safe and affirming school climate for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender students in these schools.”

And I'm happy for the trans JCPS students and employees the expansion of this policy will protect. .

Monday, August 24, 2015

Seeing the pictures of my niece and other kids dressed for school on my Facebook feed reminded me that the 2015-16 school year has started. Students across the country have either started their schooling like my niece, are moving to the next levels like middle school, high school or college or in grad schools.

Among the students headed to our nation's schools, colleges and universities are trans students.

As always, if peeps try to give you problems about your trans status in the school setting, there are organizations like GLSEN, Lambda Legal and the ACLU will be standing by along with local activists to ensure your right to be you, participate in school activities and events while working toward completing your education.

I and your trans elders are proud of you members of the Trans Class of 2016, and know that over time, you will do amazing things that will continue to justify our faith in investing in your success.

I know there are some of you who will make some trans history along the way, while others will impress and inspire us with your determination to fight for your human rights.

Hope you will have a wonderful, drama free school year and have the opportunity to have fun, make new friends and get your learn on.

TransGriot Note: Young lady in the photo is Canadian trans kid Tracey Wilson

While we are still counting down toward the start of the 2016 Rio Games next year, we already know what city will be hosting the 2020 Summer Olympics.

It's Tokyo, and the Games of the XXXII Olympiad will take place from July 24 to August 9

The countdown to the 2020 Games will begin when Rio's mayor during the closing ceremonies for next yer's games hands off the Antwerp Olympic flag to Tokyo's mayor, and in preparation for hosting the games for the second time since 1964, the 2020 games logo has been released

It was created by award winning designer Kenjiro Sato with the goal of symbolizing the unifying power of the Games. It is based on a stylized letter ;T', which is the first letter in the words, Tokyo, Tomorrow and Team.

The black color of the central column of the stylized 'T' represents diversity. The red color in the circle represents the power of every beating heart, in addition to representing the rising sun at the center of the Japanese national flag.

While the emblem has gotten some mixed reviews since it was unveiled at a public event in Tokyo on July 24, five years before the date of the opening ceremonies of the Games. While some have criticized it, others have praised it, and the Tokyo Olympic Organizing Committee likes it.

But the logo unveiling is just another reminder that we'll soon be enjoying Summer Olympics action on less than a year, and the chatter about Rio Olympic favorites will only get louder over the next few months.

Saturday, August 22, 2015

Moni's in the process of moving to a new place this weekend, so I'll probably be offline for most of the weekend.

Since I never really unpacked most of my stuff from the last move July 1, shouldn't take me as long to get set up in the new place. Once I get my computer access back up, I can start posting thing with the goal of having everything back to normal by Monday.

See y'all on the 24th unless we have something happening this weekend that compels me to whip out the tablet and compile a quick post commenting on it.

Friday, August 21, 2015

After a few weeks of unhappy living at a place that was less than satisfactory and dealing with a landlord unwilling to fix the problems like no electricity in the three bedrooms and half the living room, but still wanting their rent on time, (you know what my answer to that was) ,me and my lovely roommate are saying goodbye and good riddance to this abominable abode at 7881 Gallahad St and moving on up to better digs.

And it doesn't look as nice as it does in this picture,

Note to old landlord: Never piss off a blogger. All you had to do was pick up your phone instead of ducking and dodging us since July 8 and we could have settled this lemon situation,

Our new place will be in a nicer neighborhood and ours for the next six months. Dee Dee and I already eyeballed it two weeks ago, and if we like life in it we'll happily extend the lease for a little while longer.

Both of us are just ready to turn this lemon situation around and have some stability in our housing situations so we can go about doing the work of the community and living our lives.

But first things first is moving the hell up out of here. And while me and Dee Dee are handling that business, I'm well aware of the fact it's Friday, so y'all can peruse this week's edition of the TransGriot Shut Up Fool Awards as I get my move on.

Honorable mention number one is a group award to the Houston media, for continuing to slime the HERO as a 'gay rights ordinace.

Honorable mention number two is a group award for One Million Moms, which is a conservafool white male run group that is getting this callout for daring to slime my little sis Jazz Jennings.

Naw it's forcing your child to grow us as a right wing conservative Christian....but I digress.

Honorable mention number four is Donald Trump, who commented that the two brothers who beat up and urinated on a homeless Latino man in his name 'want America to be great again'.

And what would make America great again is you zipping your lying lips and going to Bosley's to get a hair replacement.

Honorable mention number five is Creflo Dollar. He's still whining about his plan to get his flock to buy him a $65 million dollar jet getting roasted on Black Twitter and everywhere else in the media. So this wannabee Rev. Ike is trying to gaslight his congregation into buying him a jet and claiming his critics don't 'understand God or the Bible."

Oh I understand God and the Bible quite well, Dollar Bill Creflo. Show me what part of the Bible that has a scripture that reads, "The flock shalt buy thine minister a new jet."

Honorable mention number six is Texas Agriculture Commissioner Sid Miller (R) who exhibited Proven Conservative Racist Leadership by suggesting that nukes are the solution to dealing with Muslim terrorists

He suggested on his radio show that Latino undocumented immigrant not only self deport, but the ones that remained be used as 'wards of the state' to and used as lave labor to build that Mexican border fence the conservafools are so fixated on.

Y'all keep proving every thing you peeps flap your gums that you not only want to repeal the 20th Century, but you wish to bring back slavery.

You also keep proving to the world that the only people that matter to the GOP and the conservative movement are other white conservative males.

In a time in which trans women are being killed at record rates, we trans people are fighting for recognition of our humanity, our human rights are under assault from haters who are using the legislative process to try to criminalize our trans lives, haters like the TERFs are attacking us because they are let's be real, straight up evil vanillacentric privileged wenches, and the conservative moment because they need somebody new to hate on after their catastrophic loss on marriage equality, one of the things that pisses me off is when I see it is elements of the trans community hating on other trans sisters.

And it needs to stop

So what is hatin' for the context of discussion in this post?

*Hatin' is when you disparage another sister for no reason other than because you're jealous of her. *Hatin' is when you engage in non-constructive criticism or throw unwanted and unjustified shady comments at your trans sister *Hatin' is deliberately outing her and putting her in a potentially dangerous situation in which she could be assaulted or killed. *Hatin' is any action on your part specifically designed to negatively impact her life like outing her at her job to a boss or co-worker that you know is transphobic and you are aware of the fact she is low to non-disclosed about her trans status on that job.*Hatin' is colluding with the enemies of the trans community like conservafools and TERFs to impede the human rights progress of the trans community for your personal gain, comfort or you just wanna be a nekulturny azzhole.

There are many of my sisters who are successful, accomplished women and they look damned fly when handling their business. To borrow the line from Melissa De Souza's Shelby character in the movie The Best Man Holiday, 'Don't hate, emulate'

When I see see my sisters at a White House event, Eden Lane on CNN, Janet Mock on MSNBC guest hosting the Melissa Harris-Perry Show, Laverne Cox's face on ESSENCE and other magazines, Geena Rocero and Isis King strutting down catwalks, Jazz and her family on TLC, Ruby Corado running her now three year old center in DC, Angelica Ross handling her TransTech business, Precious Davis searching for the perfect wedding dress as she and her fiance Myles role model what Black trans folks in love with each other looks like, and Nikki Araguz Loyd and her business partner Meagan Gillett stylishly handling their Gallery Girls business, why should I be hatin' on that?

There are many trans women in this community that I admire and look up to for many reasons All of us are beautiful and have qualities that make us so. The women I admire and look up to I do so not only for their beauty, their intelligence, their creative talents, their trailblazing leadership qualities, their on fleek sense of style, or some combination of all of the above, they also add into that mix of qualities being genuinely good people .

I see these women, some of who I am proud to call my friends, what they have accomplished, and I'm inspired to step up my own personal game. Instead of hatin' you should be taking notes and trying to replicate what she did to arrive at that point of success you are so green with envy about.

Is it your trans sister's fault if she hit the genetic lottery and her family DNA hormones were extremely good to her? She busted her ass to get her education? She has amazing music talent that she has worked hard to hone? That she has a significant other who is not only proud of her, but loves her? That she's successfully getting paid and working in a nice job?

#StopTheShade because frankly, in this critical moment for our community, we don't need trans sisters hatin' on each other. We have more than enough cis folks out there ready and willing to line up to not only hate on us and challenge our very humanity, but who are willing to take that hatred to the next level and oppress and kill us.

We also have serious human rights work ahead of us that will take all of us working as a unified team doing different tasks to make real the promises of democracy for trans kind.

So keep that in mind the next time you wish to pop the top on that Haterade and spit it back out at another trans sister. .

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About The TransGriot

Monica Roberts, AKA the TransGriot (Gree-oh) is a native Houstonian, GLAAD award nominated blogger, writer, and award winning trans human rights advocate. She's the founding editor of TransGriot, and her writing has appeared at the Bilerico Project, Ebony.com, The Huffington Post and the Advocate.
She works to foster understanding and acceptance of trans people inside and outside communities of color and was recently honored with the Virginia Prince Transgender Pioneer Award

TransGriot Blog Mission Statement

The TransGriot blog's mission is to become the griot of our community. I will introduce you to and talk about your African descended trans brothers and trans sisters across the Diaspora, reclaim and document our chocolate flavored trans history, speak truth to power, comment on the things that impact our trans community from an Afrocentric perspective and enlighten you about the general things that go on around me and in the communities that I am a member of.

--Mission Statement compiled January 2, 2011

The TransGriot Loves Comments

Feel free to leave comments on the posts. But bear in mind that you are guests in my cyberhome. As soon as I get to them, your comments are posted at my pleasure.

They will post as soon as I approve them, so no need to repeat sending them.

I strive to make it a safe zone for people to respectfully express themselves, but I have zero tolerance for hate speech, transphobic or blatantly disrespectful comments or ad spam.

I reserve the right to edit your comments for clarity or not post them at all.

2014, 2017 GLAAD Media Awards Outstanding Blog Finalist

2011 BWA Best LGBT Blog Finalist

2010 BWA Judges' Vote Winner Best LGBT Blog

2015-2017 NLGJA Member

TransGriot Speaking/Education Efforts Info

The TransGriot is available for speaking engagements, college lectures, panel discussions, media interviews, conferences or Trans 101 education efforts for your school, business or professional organizations.

For local Houston area, Texas or national events, you can e-mail me at transgriot@yahoo.com

For events outside the Houston metro area, I ask that my travel and lodging expenses be covered.

This is separate from my speaking fee.

If you are interested in having me appear as a speaker or panelist, you can e-mail me with the date and details of your proposed event.

Please book as early as possible because my speaking and event calendar slots during the year rapidly fill up.

CMBA Disclaimer

This personal blog allows me to express my constitutionally guaranteed First Amendment free speech rights and kick knowledge to y'all at the same time on various issues.

Nothing in it shall be construed, spun, remixed, altered or interpreted to mean it represents the views of my employers or the boards of the organizations that I sit on.

Photos and videos posted to this blog are used for illustrative purposes only and unless noted in the post or linked article, photos/videos don't indicate or are not intended to imply the person depicted in said photo/video is transgender